Notifying network contacts of inquiries

ABSTRACT

A method, computer-readable medium, and user interface for displaying an inquiry indication related to an inquiring user&#39;s inquiry are described. An inquiring user prepares and submits an inquiry in an inquiry application. Upon preparing and submitting an inquiry, a notice of the inquiry is generated and routed to the inquiring user&#39;s network contacts. An inquiry indication is generated to notify network contacts that an inquiry has been submitted by the inquiring user. A network contact may select the inquiry indication to display an inquiry feature and may select an inquiry feature to view the inquiry and respond to the inquiry.

BACKGROUND

The Internet provides a vast amount of resources that may be searched tofind information pertaining to specific issues or questions. However,even though a vast amount of information is available on the Internet,the specific information desired may not exist or may be difficult tolocate. As the Internet develops, several applications have evolved thatallow Internet users to find information that is difficult to locate oris not available on the Internet. For example, when a user cannot findthe information on the Internet by performing a simple search, users mayprepare and post specific questions or comments for which other Internetusers may respond utilizing inquiry applications such as Windows Live™QnA. The responses may provide the posting user, among others, with thedesired information.

Unfortunately, responding users may not sufficiently respond to specificquestions or comments, thereby leaving a posting user without thedesired information. In one instance, users do not respond to a specificquestion or comment posted by another user. In another instance,responding users may share limited similar characteristics, interests,or perspectives with the posting user and, accordingly, post anon-useful response. Therefore, while existing inquiry applicationsallow users to prepare and post specific questions, the inquiring usermay still not receive the information he desires.

Network contacts, such as friends, family, and co-workers, are morelikely to provide an adequate response to a specific question or commentthan non-network contacts. For example, a person who is a networkcontact of a posting user is more likely to provide a response and sharesimilar characteristics, interests, or perspectives with the postinguser. However, existing web applications do not provide the ability fora posting user to share a publicly posted question or comment with theposting user's network contacts.

Accordingly, for a network contact to respond to a friend's question orcomment in existing web applications, it might be difficult to locatethe specific question or comment. A posting user may manually e-mail alink for each question to network contacts; however, independentlycommunicating with network contacts is not efficient, and the e-mail maybe disregarded by network contacts as SPAM-type e-mail.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

Embodiments described below are directed to displaying an inquiryindication related to a user's inquiry. An inquiring user prepares andsubmits an inquiry, such as a question, in an inquiry application, suchas an Internet question and answer application. Upon preparing andsubmitting the inquiry, a notice of the inquiry is automaticallygenerated and routed to one or more network contacts of the inquiringuser.

An inquiry indication, such as an icon in a contact list, notifies anetwork contact that an inquiry has been submitted by the inquiringuser. Once the inquiry indication is displayed, a network contact mayselect the inquiry indication to display an inquiry feature, such as thequestion title. A network contact may then select an inquiry feature,such as the question title, having an embedded link to the inquiry in aninquiry application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the attacheddrawing figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for dynamically providing inquiryindications over a network to one or more network contacts, according toan embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for inquiry indication,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary display of a graphical user interface forpreparing and posting inquiries, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary display of a graphical user interface forpreparing and posting inquiries, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary display of a graphical user interface for inquiryindication, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary display of a graphical user interface for inquiryindication, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary display of a graphical user interface fordisplaying a posted inquiry, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter described herein is presented with specificity tomeet statutory requirements. However, the claimed subject matter is notlimited to the specific embodiments described herein. Rather, it iscontemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied inother ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similarto the ones described in this document, in conjunction with otherpresent or future technologies. Moreover, although the terms “step”and/or “block” may be used herein to connote different elements ofmethods employed, the terms should not be interpreted as implying anyparticular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unlessand except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described.

Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for notifying atleast a portion of an inquiring user's one or more network contacts. Ingeneral, embodiments described herein relate to methods,computer-readable media, and graphical user interfaces for inquiryindication.

Accordingly, in one embodiment, the present invention relates to methodsfor inquiry indication. A method may include receiving notice of aninquiry; displaying at least one inquiry indication; receiving a requestto display at least one inquiry feature; displaying at least one inquiryfeature; receiving a request to display an inquiry; and displaying aninquiry.

In another embodiment, the present invention relates tocomputer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodiedthereon for performing the methods described herein.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention is directed tographical user interfaces for inquiry indication. The graphical userinterfaces for inquiry indication may include an inquiry interface; aninquiry preferences interface; a network contact interface such as a webapplication interface or an instant message application interface; aninquiry feature interface; and inquiry response interface.

Having briefly described an overview of embodiments of the presentinvention, an exemplary operating environment suitable for use inimplementing embodiments of the present invention is described below.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for dynamically providing inquiryindications over a network to one or more network contacts. An inquirymay be a single question or comment or a series of questions or commentsposted by a user.

As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary system includes an inquiry application140 and a sharing application 150. Inquiry application 140 is anapplication that allows users, such as inquiring users, to prepare andpost an inquiry and allows other users, such as other Internet users, torespond to the inquiry. The other Internet users may include networkcontacts of the user posting the inquiry. Network contacts are usersthat are listed in an inquiring user's contact list. Network contactsmay include an inquiring user's friends, family, co-workers, etc. In oneembodiment, inquiry application 140 may include a web application thatresides on a server that is configured to support interoperablemachine-to machine communication between client-computing devices.Exemplary inquiry applications may include applications having a publicposting forum, such as Windows Live™ QnA, Yahoo!® Answers, Askville™ byAmazon®, etc. The inquiry application 140 may include an applicationprogramming interface (“API”) configurable to access a database.Examples of such APIs include, without limitation, active data objects(“ADO”), remote data objects (“RDO”), and the like.

Sharing Application 150 is an application that resides on a server andenables communication over a network including, for example, blogging,picture sharing, and contact listing. Exemplary sharing applicationsinclude Windows Live™ Spaces, Yahoo! 360™, and myspace.com®.

Storage mechanism 110 stores data pertaining to inquiry application 140,such as questions, answers, comments, etc. Storage mechanism 120 storescontact information, such as telephones, emails, and addresses of usersthat may be utilized with inquiry application 140, sharing application150, and instant message application 170. The instant messageapplication 170 allows a user to communicate with other users inreal-time and displays the conversation of all participating users onone screen. The instant message application 170 may be a stand-aloneapplication that resides on a client machine. Exemplary instant messageapplications include Windows Live™ Messenger, AIM®, and Google Talk™.Storage mechanism 130 stores profiles and pictures to be utilized by thesharing application 150. Profile information may include user interestsand pictures. Although storage mechanisms 110, 120, and 130 are depictedas being three separate databases, it will be appreciated that storagemechanisms 110, 120, and 130 may be integrated into any number of datastores including one data store.

An inquiring user prepares and submits an inquiry to an inquiryapplication. In one embodiment, an inquiring user utilizes a web browser160, such as Internet Explorer, on a client computing device to accessan inquiry application 140, such as Windows Live™ QnA, Yahoo!® Answers,Askville™ by Amazon®, etc.

Web browser 160 and instant message application 170 reside on clientcomputing devices and either may be utilized for displaying an inquiryindication. Accordingly, a network contact may be a web browser 160user, an instant message application 170 user, or a combination thereof.A web browser 160 user utilizes a web browser to access inquiryapplication 140 or sharing application 150. For example, a web browser160 user may open Internet Explorer browser, type in the URL address ofan inquiry application 140 and/or sharing application 150 to view aninquiry indication. However, in most instances, an instant messageapplication residing on the client computer is utilized for displayingan inquiry indication.

An inquiry indication is displayed to notify the network contact of theinquiry or comment. An inquiry indication is displayed in the contactlist provided in an e-mail service (not shown), web browser 160, orinstant message application 170. The inquiry indication may be anindication icon, an inquiring user name format, an inquiry subject, aninquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, a sound, a format technique,or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the inquiry indication maybe positioned adjacent to the inquiring user's name in the contact list.In another embodiment, the inquiry indication may be positioned near theinquiring user's name in the contact list. In yet another embodiment,the inquiry indication may simply be positioned in the contact list.Alternatively, the inquiry indication may notify the network contact ofthe inquiry or comment by displaying the indication in a feed of contactupdates. For example, in a sharing application 150, a network contactmay view a listing of updates pertaining to sharing application 150contacts, such as the inquiring user. The updates may include, forexample, a recently posted inquiry or comment, an updated profile, anadded photograph, an added blog entry, etc. The inquiry indication maybe positioned near the inquiring user's name in the listing of updates.

As previously mentioned, in one embodiment a network contact may viewthe inquiry indication displayed within a contact list. For example, anetwork contact may utilize a web browser 160, which accesses inquiryapplication 140 or sharing application 150, to view their contact listand, thereby, view the inquiry indication. Alternatively, a networkcontact may utilize an instant message application 170 and may, uponlogin, view the contact list automatically.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for displaying an inquiry indication to aninquiring user's network contacts. Prior to submitting an inquiry to theinquiry application 140, an inquiring user may request to display aninquiry indication notifying the inquiring user's network contacts thatthe inquiring user has posted an inquiry. In one embodiment, the requestto display the inquiry indication to the inquiring user's networkcontacts may be automatic upon submission of the inquiry. In anotherembodiment, the inquiring user may designate all network contacts toreceive the inquiry indication. In another embodiment, the inquiringuser may designate a select number of network contacts or specificnetwork contacts to view the inquiry indication. In yet anotherembodiment, the inquiring user may designate a specific category ofnetwork contacts, such as family, friends, co-workers, etc., to receivethe inquiry indication. To designate network contacts, the inquiringuser may select a check box, or use a similar feature, to select theportion of network contacts intended to view the inquiry indication.Alternatively, network contacts that may view the inquiry indication maybe limited to the network contacts that have access to the inquiringuser's sharing application.

By way of illustration, a first client-computing device is an inquiringuser's computer, second and third client-computing devices are computersbeing utilized by network contacts, and a fourth client-computing deviceis a computer belonging to an individual that is not an inquiring user'snetwork contact. Accordingly, if the inquiring user on the firstclient-computing device designates all network contacts to view theinquiry indication, the inquiry indication is only displayed by thesecond and third client-computing devices being utilized by networkcontacts. Alternatively, the inquiring user on the firstclient-computing device may choose to notify only the network contactusing the second client-computing device. Thus, an inquiry indication isonly displayed by the second client-computing device.

If the inquiring user designates, either automatically or manually, atleast a portion of the one or more network contacts to view the inquiryindication and the inquiry is submitted to inquiry application 140, theinquiry is posted on the corresponding website, and the inquiring user'sname, time when the inquiry was posted, and the location of the reallysimple syndication (RSS) feed for the inquiry content is stored instorage mechanism 120. Essentially, inquiry application 140 updates atime stamp in storage mechanism 120 to indicate a new inquiry for theparticular inquiring user.

To display the inquiry indication, the web browser accessing the inquiryapplication 140 or sharing application 150, or the instant messageapplication 170 compares its time stamps with the time stamps in storagemechanism 120 for each network contact. In one embodiment, the inquiryapplication 140, sharing application 150, or instant message application170 time stamps are stored time values associated with each instance anetwork contact logs in to the respective application. The comparison oftime stamps may occur at the time the network contact logs in utilizingthe web browser or instant messaging application or periodically duringthe time the network contact is logged in utilizing the web browser orinstant message application.

If storage mechanism 120 has an updated time stamp indicating newcontent, the inquiry indication is displayed. Accordingly, in additionto storing contact information, storage mechanism 120 also stores thesoftware that implements the APIs used to display the inquiryindication. In one embodiment, the software that implements APIs used todisplay the inquiry indication may be stored in another storagemechanism. The APIs used to display the inquiry indication may employnumerous methods for displaying the inquiry indication. For example, inone embodiment, an inquiry indication may be displayed for each newinquiry posted by an inquiring user since the last network contact loginor within a particular time span (e.g., within 24 hours). In anotherembodiment, a single inquiry indication may be displayed for multipleinquiries posted by an inquiring user since the last network contactlogin or within a particular time span (e.g., within one week). In yetanother embodiment, multiple inquiry indications or a single inquiryindication may be displayed for multiple or single inquiries posted bymultiple inquiring users since the last network contact login or withina particular time span (e.g., within one month).

Upon receiving an inquiry indication, an inquiry feature may bedisplayed. FIG. 1 illustrates a system for displaying at least oneinquiry feature in a network user's contact list. A network contact mayselect the inquiry indication displayed in the contact list to view atleast one inquiry feature 180. An inquiry feature 180 may include aninquiry subject, an inquiry title, an inquiry detail(s), a link to theinquiry application having the user inquiry, or a combination thereof.An inquiry subject may be a general topic or category of the inquiry. Aninquiry title may be the title of the question or the question itself.Inquiry details may be the detailed question posted or specific detailsregarding the question. A URL link to the inquiry application postingthe user inquiry allows the network contact to view the posted inquiry.

In one embodiment, the inquiry features may include features ofinquiries previously posted by the inquiring user. Alternatively, theinquiry features may include features of inquiries posted by aninquiring user within a particular time period (e.g., within 24 hours).In yet another embodiment, the inquiry features may include inquiryfeatures of inquiries posted since the time the network contact lastlogged in. The inquiry features to be displayed to a network contact maybe determined by the network contact user, the inquiry applicationprovider, the sharing application provider, the instant messageapplication provider, the inquiring user, or a combination thereof.

In an embodiment where a network contact selects an inquiry indicationdisplayed in a contact list, a request to sharing application 150 isissued. Sharing application 150 then transmits the request to storagemechanism 120 and accesses the location of the inquiry content for aparticular inquiring user. Sharing application 150 uses the location ofthe inquiry content to retrieve inquiry features, such as an inquirytitle, an inquiry detail, a link to the user inquiry, or a combinationthereof. Sharing application 150 retrieves the inquiry features byreading the RSS feed for a particular inquiring user and, subsequently,the web browser 160 or instant message application 170 accesses theinquiry features from sharing application 150. In one embodiment,sharing application 150 is not used; inquiry application 140 or analternative application performs functions similar to those performed bysharing application 150.

If an inquiry feature displayed is a link or embedded link to theinquiry, once the link is selected, the network contact is linked, via aURL, to the inquiry application 140 and inquiry is displayed to thenetwork contact user. In one embodiment, inquiry features 180 are notused and the network user may be automatically linked to the inquiryapplication 140 to view the inquiry upon selection of the inquiryindication. In another embodiment, upon selection of the inquiryindication, the inquiry may be displayed in the form of an inquiryfeature and the network contact may not be linked to the inquiryapplication 140; thus, the network contact may respond to the inquiryvia a method alternative to the inquiry application 140, such as instantmessaging, blogging, or e-mailing.

With reference to FIG. 2, a flow diagram is illustrated showing a method200 for notifying an inquiring user's network contacts of an inquiry inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Method 200 isbut one example of a suitable method; the invention is not limited tothis example.

Initially, at block 210, notice of an inquiry is received. The inquiryoriginates from an inquiring user preparing an inquiry and requestingtransmission the inquiry to at least a portion of the one or morenetwork contacts of the inquiring user. In one embodiment, the inquiringuser may designate specific network contacts to receive notice of aninquiry or may designate all network contacts to receive notice of aninquiry. In another embodiment, the inquiring user may designate a groupof network contacts to receive notice of an inquiry, such as friends,family, or co-workers. In still another embodiment, the notice of aninquiry is automatically transmitted to network contacts.

Upon receiving notice of an inquiry, at least one inquiry indication isdisplayed to the one or more designated network contacts of theinquiring user at block 220. An inquiry indication serves to notify anetwork contact that an inquiring user has submitted an inquiry. In oneembodiment, the inquiry indication is displayed in the contact list ofthe network contact. The contact list may be accessed by a networkcontact user via an instant message application or via a web browseraccessing a sharing application or an inquiry application or the like.In one embodiment, the inquiry indication may be displayed adjacent ornear the inquiring user's name. In another embodiment where the noticeis an email message sent to the network contact, the inquiry indicationis a display of the email message.

At block 230, a request to display at least one inquiry feature isreceived. A network contact using a web application or an instantmessage application may request at least one inquiry feature to bedisplayed by selecting the inquiry indication. In one embodiment, theinquiry indication may be selected by clicking on the inquiry indicationwhile the cursor is over the inquiry indication. In another embodiment,the inquiry indication may be selected by “hovering” the cursor over theinquiry indication. In yet another embodiment, block 230 may beeliminated, and the network contact may select the inquiry indication,having an embedded link, and link to the inquiry application to view theinquiry posted by the inquiring user.

At block 240, at least one inquiry feature is displayed. The inquiryfeature to be displayed to a network contact may be determined by thenetwork contact user, the inquiry application provider, the sharingapplication provider, the instant message application provider, theinquiring user, or a combination thereof. Inquiry features to bedisplayed may be selected manually, by algorithm (e.g., most frequentlyviewed), or some other manner. Additionally, the layout of inquiryfeatures may be organized by the network contact user, the inquiryapplication provider, the sharing application provider, the instantmessage application provider, the inquiring user, or a combinationthereof.

At block 250, a request to display the inquiry is received. In oneembodiment, the network contact may request the inquiry be displayed byselecting an inquiry feature or inquiry indication, such as text or apicture having an embedded link. The inquiry indication or inquiryfeature may be selected by providing input, such as a mouse click, whilethe cursor is over the inquiry indication. In yet another embodiment,block 250 may be eliminated. For instance, upon selection of the inquiryindication, the inquiry may be displayed in the form of an inquiryfeature. The network contact may then respond to the inquiry via amethod alternative to the inquiry application, such as instantmessaging, blogging, or e-mailing. At block 260, the inquiry isdisplayed via the inquiry application.

FIGS. 3-7 illustrate exemplary displays of a graphical user interfacefor an inquiry indication system, according to embodiments of thepresent invention. The inquiry indication system may include inquiryapplications that electronically display a forum for posting inquiriesand responding to inquiries—such as, for example, Windows Live™ QnA,Yahoo!® Answers, Askville™ by Amazon®, or the like. User can interactwith the inquiry application using well known input components—such as,for example, a mouse, joystick, stylus, touch screen, keyboard, or thelike.

With reference to FIG. 3, in operation, an inquiry application 308displays a forum 300 allowing users to prepare and post inquiries on aclient-computing device. The inquiring user can prepare an inquiry 302on the inquiry application 308. Inquiry 302 may be any question,comment, or series of questions or comments that may generate adiscussion or generate responses to an inquiry. The prepared inquiry 302is displayed in user interface 300, as indicated in FIG. 3. Theinquiring user may also prepare inquiry details 304 to be posted on theinquiry application 308. In one embodiment, inquiry details 304 may becombined with inquiry 302. In another embodiment, inquiry details 304are not entered. The inquiry 302 and inquiry details 304 may be enteredin to a text box as shown in FIG. 3.

Upon preparing inquiry 302 and inquiry details 304, if desired, theinquiring user may select a “continue” button 306 to continue preparingthe inquiry. In one embodiment, a selection to continue preparing theinquiry may be made by a right click or a menu selection. In anotherembodiment, a selection to continue preparing the inquiry may beeliminated, thereby permitting all inquiry preparation to be performedon one user interface.

Upon selecting “continue” button 306, with reference to FIG. 4, adisplay 400 for entering additional inquiry information is provided.Inquiry 402 and inquiry details 404 are displayed along with a link 406embedded in text or a picture such that the inquiring user may edit theinquiry or inquiry details. In one embodiment, inquiry 402 and/orinquiry details 404 need not be displayed.

The inquiring user may tag the inquiry 408, as illustrated in FIG. 4.Tagging an inquiry provides a general topic or category for the inquiryso that the inquiry may be categorized and organized by the specifiedtag. In one embodiment, inquiry tags may determine the network contactsnotified of the inquiry. For example, only network contacts having aninterest in sports will be notified of a sports related inquiry. Inanother embodiment, tagging the inquiry may be eliminated.

Further, in the graphical user interface of FIG. 4, the inquiring usermay designate 410 that an inquiry indication be received by networkcontacts. In one embodiment, the inquiring user may select specificnetwork contacts to receive the inquiry indication. In anotherembodiment, the inquiring user may select a category of networkcontacts, such as family, friends, co-workers, etc., to receive theinquiry indication. In yet another embodiment, the designation 410 maybe eliminated and the inquiry indication may be automatically displayedto either all network contacts, a group of network contacts, or aspecific category of network contacts. In the embodiment with only oneinterface for inquiry preparation, the designation of network contactsto receive an inquiry indication is on the single interface.

In one embodiment, the graphical user interface may display relatedquestions 412 such that the inquiring user may view previous relatedinquiries and decide whether to submit the inquiry based upon theprevious responses. Upon finalizing the inquiry details, the inquiringuser may select to “submit” the inquiry 414 to generate responses.

After submitting the inquiry, the designated network contacts arenotified of the inquiry. FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of agraphical user interface displayed to a designated network contact usingan instant message application. Instant message application interface500 includes window 502, network contact status indicator 504 withinwindow 502, a contact list 506, contact username 508 for each contact,and an inquiry indication 510. Each time a network contact logs on to aninstant message application, an server provides contact list 506 to thenetwork contact's instant message application and indicates inquiringusers in the contact list 506 that have submitted an inquiry into theinquiry application. In one embodiment, a network contact using aninstant message application has numerous contacts listed in contact list506. In another embodiment, a network contact using an instant messageapplication may have only one contact listed in contact list 506.Inquiry indication 510 serves to notify a network contact that aninquiring user has submitted an inquiry.

The inquiry indication shown in FIG. 5 may alternatively take the formof a change in color surrounding the online indicator for a contact, anindication icon, an inquiring user name format, an inquiry subject, aninquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, a sound, a highlightedcontact username, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, theinquiry indication 510 is located adjacent or near the username 508 soas to visually display the inquiring user and inquiry association. Inanother embodiment, the inquiry indication may be located anywhere inthe contact list of the instant message application so as to provide thenetwork user with a general knowledge that an inquiring user hassubmitted a recent inquiry.

With reference to FIG. 6, user interface 600 is displayed upon selectionof an inquiry indication. The client messenger interface 500 of FIG. 5receives input by the network contact selecting inquiry indication 510.Once selected, the instant message application retrieves and displaysthe inquiry feature window 602 of FIG. 6. Inquiry feature window 602includes inquiry features 604, 606, and 608. Inquiry feature 604provides the network user with the user name of the inquiring user,thereby identifying the user who submitted the inquiry. Inquiry feature606 displays the inquiring user's inquiry having an embedded link sothat the network contact user may link directly to the inquiring user'sinquiry and respond to the inquiry. Inquiry feature 608 includes variousmethods in which the network contact user may contact the inquiring userto respond to the inquiry, ask a question pertaining to the inquiry,etc. Inquiry feature window 602 may display a variety of inquiryfeatures including tags and inquiry details. In one embodiment, theinquiry feature window 602 may not be displayed and selecting theinquiry indication 510 may link the network contact user directly to theinquiry submitted to the inquiry application.

Finally, FIG. 7 illustrates a graphical user interface 700 displayingthe inquiry submitted to the inquiry application, such as inquiryapplication 140 of FIG. 1. When a network contact selects inquiryfeature 606 of FIG. 6 having an embedded link to the inquiry, thenetwork contact user is linked to the inquiry within inquiryapplication. Alternatively, graphical user interface 700 may also bedisplayed upon selecting the inquiry indication 510 of FIG. 5. Graphicaluser interface 700 provides the inquiry 702, inquiry details 704,associated tags 706, a link for answering the inquiry 708, the usernameof the inquiring user 710, answers 712 previously submitted by otherresponders, which may be other network contacts or other Internet users,and related questions 714. In one embodiment, only a text box forpreparing an answer and a link for submitting an answer may appear. Inanother embodiment, various attributes, including those mentioned aboveand additional attributes, may be viewed in graphical user interface700. Even though network contacts or selected network contacts arenotified, the inquiry may be posted on the inquiry application to beanswered by all inquiry application users.

The present invention has been described herein in relation toparticular embodiments, which are intended in all respects to beillustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments willbecome apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which thepresent invention pertains without departing from its scope.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain ends and objects set forth above, together with otheradvantages which are obvious and inherent to the system and method. Itwill be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaims.

1. A method for automatically displaying a graphical indicator at aclient computer when a message has been posted to a server-based messageboard forum, the method comprising: receiving at a receiving user'scomputer a notice sent via a network by a server, the notice indicatingthat an inquiring user has posted an inquiry on a message board forum,where the message board forum allows users to, via the network, submitfor posting new messages and responses to posted messages in a publicforum and where messages are stored for future viewing and responding-toby users, and where the notice has been received without the receivinguser having accessed the message board forum; and displaying at theuser's computer a graphical indicator in response to receiving thenotice at the user's computer.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the graphical indicator indicates that the inquiring user hasposted an inquiry on the message board forum.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the method further comprises receiving a request from the userto display the inquiry.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the methodfurther comprises receiving a request from the user to display at leastone inquiry feature, wherein the at least one inquiry feature may be aninquiry subject, an inquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, or acombination thereof.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphicalindicator may be an indication icon, an inquiring user name format, aninquiry subject, an inquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, or acombination thereof.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user islisted in an inquiring user's contact list.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the contact list may be included in a web application or aninstant message application.
 8. A method for notifying one or more usersof a message submitted to a network message forum, the methodcomprising: posting a message to a network message forum, where themessage comprises text submitted to the network message forum by a firstuser, and where the network message forum allows users to, via thenetwork, submit for posting new messages and responses to postedmessages in a public forum and where messages are stored for futureviewing and responding-to by users; and responsive to the posting of themessage by the first user, automatically identifying one or more networkcontacts of the first user and automatically transmitting notice of theposted message to the one or more network contacts of the first user. 9.The method according to claim 8, wherein the notice is configured to becapable of causing display of a graphical indicator by a computeroperated by one of the one or more network contacts.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the graphical indicator identifies thefirst user.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first useris graphically identified in a displayed list of network contacts of theuser who received the notice.
 12. The method according to claim 9,wherein the graphical indicator can be interacted with to view themessage posted by the first user.
 13. The method according to claim 9,wherein the graphical indicator can be interacted with to view at leastone inquiry feature, wherein the at least one inquiry feature may be aninquiry subject, an inquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, or acombination thereof.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the graphicalindicator may be an icon, an inquiring user name format, an inquirysubject, an inquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, or a combinationthereof.
 15. The method of claim 8, wherein the first user is listed inan inquiring user's contact list, wherein the contact list may beincluded in a web application or an instant message application.
 16. Agraphical user interface embodied on a computer-readable medium andexecutable on a computer, said graphical user interface comprising: afirst display area on a user's computer configured for displaying atleast one inquiry indication, the inquiry indication indicating that aninquiring user has posted an inquiry on a message board forum, where theinquiry notification is displayed in response to a notice sent to theuser based on information indicating a personal relationship between theinquiring user and the user receiving the notice, and where the messageboard forum allows users to, via the network, submit for posting newmessages and responses to posted messages in a public forum and wheremessages are stored for future viewing and responding to by user. 17.The graphical user interface of claim 16 further comprising a seconddisplay area configured for displaying at least one inquiry feature,wherein the second display area is displayed upon a request fordisplaying the second display area.
 18. The graphical user interface ofclaim 17, wherein the at least one inquiry feature may be an inquirysubject, an inquiry title, a link to the user inquiry, or a combinationthereof.
 19. The graphical user interface of claim 17 further comprisinga third display area configured for displaying the inquiry, wherein thethird display area is displayed upon a request for displaying the seconddisplay area.
 20. The graphical user interface of claim 16, wherein theat least one inquiry indication may be an icon, an inquiring user nameformat, an inquiry subject, an inquiry title, a link to the userinquiry, a sound, or a combination thereof.